James Elvin Dorsey
v.
State of Iowa
James Dorsey was convicted of murder in the first degree for acts committed when he was eighteen years and five days old. He appeals from the court’s order granting the State’s motion for summary judgment and dismissing his application for postconviction relief. He argues: (1) the court erred by relying on res judicata because the court considering his 2014 motion to correct an illegal sentence did not appoint counsel; (2) a court’s failure to provide an individualized sentencing hearing for defendants who commit crimes when they are eighteen years old, as it does for juvenile defendants pursuant to State v. Lyle, 854 N.W.2d 378 (Iowa 2014), is cruel and unusual punishment under the Iowa Constitution; and (3) the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder in the first degree is a grossly disproportionate sentence under the circumstances.
Appellant
James Elvin Dorsey
Appellee
State of Iowa
Attorney for the Appellant
Alexander Smith
Attorney for the Appellee
Louis S. Sloven
Supreme Court
Oral Argument Schedule
15-15-5
Feb 22, 2022 9:00 AM